Major Update on ‘Zombieland 3’

A new quote from Zombieland director Ruben Fleischer suggests the franchise may not be a dead man walking after all.

Fleischer, who just directed the recently-released threequel Now You See Me: Now You Don’t, shared his desire to return to the franchise that made him famous at a career retrospective event held by the American Cinematheque on Wednesday in Los Angeles.

In an interview with Deadline, he spoke on his early career moments—like getting a job as a PA in Mike White’s office (who eventually went on to create HBO’s White Lotus) in the early 2000s, directing early episodes of Jimmy Kimmel Live! on television, and turning down an opportunity to direct a Mission: Impossible sequel.

Most interesting, though, was Fleischer dropping a potential date for a third Zombieland. The first, released in 2009, and Zombieland: Double Tap, released in 2019, are Fleischer’s most critically successful movies by far. Both films star Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Abigail Breslin, and Emma Stone.

“I’m hoping that we’ll do a Zombieland 3 in 2029. We’re starting to talk about that because [the first] one was 2009, and then we did the second one in 2019, and we kind of left that one all saying, ‘We’ll see you in 10 years,’” Fleischer said. “That’s coming up now, and so we’re starting to figure that out, so I’m hoping that’ll come together. Then, I’ve got a few things that are raring to go, so we’ll see which one comes first.”

While it’s not huge news, when it comes to the return of a franchise that only pops out of its grave every ten years, sometimes you’ve gotta take the advice of Woody Harrelson’s Zombieland character Columbus and “enjoy the little things.”